


Through the Seasons

by Yrindor



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Developing Relationship, Illnesses, M/M, Mentioned Yukimura Seiichi, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 20:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10226504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: The first time Taka meets him, Sanada is nothing more than the tennis player who wandered into the restaurant looking lost.  Weeks later, Taka still knows little more than his name, but that doesn't stop him from wanting to see him again.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the TeniPuri Shipname Fest for the prompt "Elemental Pair" because of Sanada's FuuRinKaZan and Taka's "Burning". Also heavily inspired by the song "Season" from the Prince of Tennis musicals, especially the version from Dream Live 7th.

Taka notices the boy the minute he steps into the restaurant. It's the middle of winter, and the place is nearly empty; the dinner rush is long past, and most people have chosen to retreat to the warmth of their own homes rather than venture out into the snow. But even if the restaurant had been full, Taka thinks he would have noticed. The boy is carrying a tennis bag with him—two in fact, both as covered in snow as he is.

"Welcome," he says as he hurries out from behind the counter to take the boy's coat. He takes one of the bags as well, but the boy won't let go of the other; he doesn't even seem to notice how tightly he's gripping the handles. He doesn't seem to be noticing much of anything at all, in fact, and he startles when Taka taps him on the shoulder to get his attention. The cold must have gotten to him, Taka thinks as he shows him to a table in the corner.

"Do you play tennis?" he asks as he serves tea.

"Yes," the boy answers, but then he turns away, cutting off any further attempts at conversation. He doesn't say another word for the rest of the night.

It's not until a week later, and as many visits from the boy as there have been days, that Taka finally drums up the courage to ask his name.

"Sanada Genichirou," the boy says, and once again he turns away from any further words. He continues to come to the restaurant every night though. Taka thinks it's too late for him to be coming directly from practice, but he always has his tennis bag with him—just the one ever since that first day. Maybe it's just Taka's imagination, but he thinks Sanada looks more weary and worn down with each passing day too. He starts making a new pot of tea every night when Sanada arrives, just to make sure it's hot and extra strong, and some nights he'll slip an extra piece of sashimi onto Sanada's plate. It seems the least he can do.

A month later, Taka is taking in the deliveries when Sanada comes up on his phone. "Rikkai's third championship, _our_ third championship, is guaranteed," he says before he hangs up and steps inside. He's from a powerhouse school for tennis then, Taka notes. He doesn't mention it, but he does file the fact away for future reference.

A few months later, when the cherry blossoms are just starting to bloom, Sanada surprises Taka by sitting at the counter rather than in his usual place in the corner. He looks more alive too, as if the changing seasons have revived him as well. He has a small stack of papers next to him, and Taka recognizes them as the team rosters he's seen Tezuka, and more recently Oishi, poring over.

"Are you your team's captain?" he asks, and Sanada looks up sharply.

"I don't mean to pry," he backtracks, "but I recognized the rosters. I play tennis too. Seishun Gakuen third year, Kawamura Takashi," he stutters, then wants to kick himself for letting his mouth run away with his nerves.

"I'm not the captain; I'm the vice-captain," Sanada says, but there's a sadness in his voice when he speaks that Taka can't quite place.

A week later, Seigaku faces Rikkai in the Kantou Tournament finals. Sanada and Oishi step forward when the captains are called up, and suddenly some of the pieces start to fall into place. Rikkai is also without their captain, and Taka wonders if that story is the story behind Sanada's weariness as well.

Seigaku wins, and Sanada returns to the restaurant the next evening. For the first time, he addresses Taka directly. "Thank you, Kawamura Takashi-san," he says. "I don't know when I'll be back, but thank you…for everything."

The words are unexpected, and they leave Taka reeling. He wonders where he went wrong, but Sanada holds up a hand to forestall any question he may have been about to ask.

"Yukimura, my…our…captain, collapsed last winter. Walking home from our practice courts, I never would have passed this place, but coming back from the hospital, it's the brightest point of light on the street.

"Yukimura will be released tomorrow. It has been a…difficult…several months, but this shop—a quiet place that has demanded nothing—has made them more bearable. If we don't meet again before, then I hope our teams will see one another in Nationals."

"I'm glad your captain has recovered," Taka says, but by the time he finds the words he really wants to say, Sanada has already left, and he finds himself staring at the empty doorway with a sudden hollow feeling in his chest.

The hollow feeling is still there a week later when Sanada steps inside with another boy next to him. One glance at the stranger's pale face and frail figure would be enough to identify him as the Yukimura Sanada mentioned, but that's not what Taka notices first. He notices the tennis bag in the newcomer's hand—a bag he hasn't seen since the very first night Sanada set foot in the restaurant.

"Yukimura had a follow-up appointment at the hospital today," Sanada says as Taka shows them to the table in the corner, "and I wanted to show him the place, and the person, that has kept me grounded these past months." Taka goes through all the appropriate motions and pleasantries with a smile, but it feels forced as he watches the comfortable ease with which Sanada and his captain interact.

He doesn't see either of them again until the final match of the Nationals tournament. He wishes he could play against them, but he's too injured from his last match against Shintenhouji's Ishida Gin. He probably shouldn't even be sitting here, but he needs to know.

Seigaku wins, but it's uncomfortably close. Yukimura finds him after the match. Taka is bruised and battered, and he feels inadequate next to Rikkai's captain who looks so frail and yet was strong enough to challenge Ryouma. He looks away, but Yukimura hooks a finger under his chin and forces him to raise his head.

"Thank you," Yukimura says with an intensity that makes him shiver, "for everything you've done for Genichirou."

Then he leaves, and Taka is left alone trying remember how to breathe.

By the time his injuries have healed enough for him to return to his duties at the restaurant, spring is turning to summer, and when he steps inside for his first day back, he's surprised to see someone sitting in the corner of the otherwise empty shop.

Sanada looks up as he enters. "I've been waiting for you," he says.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated.


End file.
